8th Grade Essay Contest - Diocese of Covington

Pro-Life Office 8th Grade Essay Contest

2024-2025 School Year

2024-2025 Theme

The topic for the essay is as follows:

We live in a society that rejects those who are weak, fragile, or vulnerable. Yet, it is precisely within these conditions that a person is most in need of our care and protection. Pope Francis reminds us that “every child who, rather than being born, is condemned unjustly to being aborted, bears the face of Jesus Christ, bears the face of the Lord, who even before he was born, and then just after birth, experienced the world’s rejection.”

Pope St. John Paul II wrote, “we are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the ‘culture of death’ and the ‘culture of life’. …we are all involved and we all share in it, with the inescapable responsibility of choosing to be unconditionally pro-life.”

In your essay describe how you, a young person, can be a witness to others (your family, your peers and your community) and convert hearts showing that all life is good and worthy of our care and protection.

Essay Guidelines

Essays are judged on a 60-point scale with each of the following worth 10 points:

Relationship to topic. Must address essay topic.
Proper use of quotations about the sanctity of life. Must have one or more quotes from Sacred Scripture and one or more quotes from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Additional quotes may also be used. (Please include a bibliography page)
Accuracy of facts.
Originality and creativity.
(Does the essay form and express reasonable opinions?)

It is suggested that materials be presented, and essays started during October (Respect Life Month).
Length: 300-750 words; show word count at end of essay. Essays must be typed, double-spaced and printed on 8 ½ by 11 paper. Do not write student’s name directly on the essay, no titles on the page.
A completed entry form must be paper-clipped (no tape or staples) to all essays when submitted to the Pro-Life Office. If the essay is more than one page, please staple the pages together, then paper-clip the entry form to the essay.
A maximum of 15 essays per school please.
Mail or drop off entries to the Diocese of Covington Pro-Life Office, 1125 Madison Avenue, Covington, KY Entry deadline Monday, December 2, 2024.
All finalists will be notified in February and invited to an awards banquet that will be held March 13, 2025.

Teachers who have questions may contact the Pro-Life Office at (859) 392-1545.

Entry Form

Click Here to Download the Form